The Granary

Feature 13595280 | © living4media / Narratives / Parmiter, David | 21 images

In the 1990s after many years of nomadic service with the British Army Gilly and John finally decided to settle down and establish some roots. They set up home amid a complex of farm buildings surrounded by 18 peaceful acres of countryside in North Yorkshire where they’ve recently been very busy working on the conversion of a near derelict 19th century agricultural building. We wanted to create an energy-efficient house say Gilly and John explained that they have installed a ground heat source pump, and a boiler, which acts like a fridge in reverse. ‘It responds to temperature changes, and is on 24 hours a day. We have also installed extra thick insulation, and next year, finances allowing, we hope to install a wind turbine, which, in theory, should produce enough kilowatts to run the place all year, adds Gilly, who, as well as being environmentally-minded, was very hands on during the conversion work.